1989 Signature Series value, Pickup help

[trower]

Hi all, new here...
I would like some advice from the PRS brains on a bridge pickup query and a fair sale value. In 89' I bought this beautiful Signature Series #368 PRS in Emerald green. I understand these to be Paul's premier ultimate quality wood grade guitars and are based on the Custom's. Only 1000 produced and feature a extremely figured maple top.

I played this exclusively for many years/performances. As careful as one can be, it did pickup some chips and light worming but nothing atrocious. I did have the sweet switch/pickups changed one time but a local shop return it back to stock. Some wiring was extended but all original parts and functions are restored. The guitar plays like dream of course and has a jaw dropping top and this emerald green is stunning in color. I have original paper work and the vibrato arm in it's original hard shell case.

Curiously the Luther (a PRS fan) mentioned the bridge pickup as being a very rare proto-type in that the E and B pole were different than the other lower 4. I don't recall the details and the shop has closed down so is anyone here familiar with this? They do look to be beveled unlike the other flat poles.

Here are some pic of the pickup in question (not low E/B poles) followed by the ax and some of the "ouches" There are a few other minor chips but I ran out of space. Suffice to say a few more minor chip should be expected. Any information would be greatly appreciated

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Cool guitar. Yes, a hair more than 1000 Sigs were made. Some numbers were duplicates. ‘89 is a notable year for wood. While Private Stock and many of the limited and Wood Library runs have since picked-up where the Sig program left off, you are correct that they were the first of the ‘ultimate’ quality PRS guitars. In my opinion, any ‘80’s PRS is worth hanging onto; modified or not.

Aboit the mods... the drilled-out sweet switch on your Sig hurts the value. Some quantified estimates we did (on a different PRS forum) about 10 years ago suggest that it is a 15-20 % hit on value. That number may have changed a little.

Estimates of current value are going to be all over the place. All are just opinions (educated or otherwise) so treat them as such. As a general statement, colors like Vintage Yellow drive the price up while opaque finishes on the back of a Sig (where wood cannot be seen) drives the price down. Unless, of course, you have a Bonni Pink Sig or a rare combo like a VY top and opaque black back. Then the price goes up. One-off features increase value. As noted above, any mod hurts value. Drilling the sweet switch for a tone pot is a painful (and common) mod. I would estimate your guitar is worth no less than $3,000 and no more than $4,000.

Pull the pickups and flip them over. What is written on the back-side? PRS modified the stamped T and B pickups with slugs in the B and high E positions around mid 1987. By 1989, they were using non-stamped T and B pups as wll as Deep dish 2 pickups. There were a few others but I wouldn’t expect to see them in your guitar.

 

[trower]

Much appreciated. Can I ask for some clarification on a few things please;

• The sweet switch was there when purchased. Did they not originally come this way? The hole has not been over-sized to my knowledge. I ran a micro 3 position toggle here.
• The back of the pickups shows a small sticker, each read "PRS Standard Bass" "PRS Standard Treble" but clearly the two slugs are different.

Sorry for the huge picture!

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Hmmm.., I assumed the washer on the Sweet Switch was there because the hole had been drilled-out (made larger) to accomodate the larger shaft [snicker] of a tone pot. Just unscrew the nut, remove the washer, and see if any material was removed after it was stained.

There were some guitars that left the factory with a washer. Heck, some left the factory (in the Sweet Switch era) with a tone pot. A few had both! Your guitar may be one of them that had the washer from the factory.

The pickups in your guitar appear to be what came stock for that year. They are not, so far as I am aware, unique in any way.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Just popping in to say; Hot Damn! What a Bangin’! guitar.

 

[trower]

Hmmm.., I assumed the washer on the Sweet Switch was there because the hole had been drilled-out (made larger) to accomodate the larger shaft [snicker] of a tone pot. Just unscrew the nut, remove the washer, and see if any material was removed after it was stained.

There were some guitars that left the factory with a washer. Heck, some left the factory (in the Sweet Switch era) with a tone pot. A few had both! Your guitar may be one of them that had the washer from the factory.

The pickups in your guitar appear to be what came stock for that year. They are not, so far as I am aware, unique in any way.

Like my 77' Harley Davidson Shovel, parts are subject to whim, ha...Actually I'm relived to hear PRS used some impulse or what was available to the artistry the builder. Make's for a uniquely special product. The washer/switch is stock.
So to be clear; the bridge PU's un-unique.I may have forgotten to mention the neck PU poles are stamped across all 6 poles unlike the bridge with 2 slugs. Why wouldn't both neck/bridge be assimilated/equivalent? As a reminder, this was purchased brand new from a local retailer so I have to believe no alterations, post factory.

 

[trower]

Just popping in to say; Hot Damn! What a Bangin’! guitar.

Couldn't agree more, thank you!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Couldn't agree more, thank you!

Thanks for the pictures! I don’t ever recall seeing an emerald one before, so it’s a nice treat.

 

[gush]

Freaking cool guitar!!!!

My 89 cu24 has the stickered T and B pickups and the bridge has the E and B slugs like yours.

Beautiful guitar.

 

[trower]

Freaking cool guitar!!!!

My 89 cu24 has the stickered T and B pickups and the bridge has the E and B slugs like yours.

Beautiful guitar.

OK, weird stuff I'm learning but good to know!

 

[Collywobbles]

The bridge pickup looks exactly like a later iteration of the Standard Treble with the warming mod (i.e. the high E and B slugs are non-magnetic with the characteristic circular milling marks, the other four slugs are magnetic), which is what you'd expect to see on an '89 Sig. I'd not expect to see any stamping on the pickup base plate (making the pickup a blank-back Standard Treble). Slightly later T pickups had a white paper sticker but I think this came after your guitar (earlier Standard Treble pickups had a stamped T on the baseplate, but the stamping disappears around 1987). Pickup specs below - if you have a multimeter you can read the pickup resistance over a normal instrument cable with the volume pot maxed at 10 - it's not 100% accurate but close enough. If it's a Standard Treble (which it almost certainly is) then it will almost certainly be partnered with a Standard Bass in the neck. As noted above some sweet-switch guitars shipped with the hole drilled at the factory and a washer so the sweet-switch fitted. That said, my guess is if the sweet-switch was removed at some point and a tone pot fitted then it was drilled at that point (the hole needs to be bigger to take a tone pot shaft) and the washer added when the sweet-switch was refitted.

 

[bodia]

I've got nothing useful to add. But, I have to chime in to say that's a stunningly cool fiddle!

 

[László]

Beautiful axe in every way!

 

[trower]

I'm gonna measure the PU's tonight. Thank you Collywobbles for the info. Looks like I should see 11/8.5 or there bouts.
I'm curious if it left the factory with an oversize sweet switch bore. Gonna pull it and have a look too.

 

[trower]

I believe they hit a home run with their Emerald Green...

 

[shallbe]

That is a real beauty, and why I have always wanted one in that color.

 

[Collywobbles]

I'm gonna measure the PU's tonight. Thank you Collywobbles for the info. Looks like I should see 11/8.5 or there bouts.

I had a '88 Sig that was fairly close to your guitar's serial and that measured 9.96 T and 7.99 B.

Looking at your pickup picture it's almost without a doubt a later Standard T as that's how they look. For info the Standard T and B pickups originally had both magnetic non-adjust slugs plus a bar magnet as well (normally humbuckers just have a bar, single coils magnetic slugs, so it's an unusual design). The combination of slug and bar magnets made the original T&Bs quite bright so to warm them up a bit the high E and B slugs got changed mid '87 to non-magnetic poles. These are very distinctive and have circular milling marks on them.

This is a '89 Custom (one of my cast offs) that was fitted with Standard T and B pickups. The pictures are the best I can find and just about show the warmed slugs as fitted to your guitar.

Edit - I've come to realise I've owned and sold too many PRS over the years and probably should stop

 

[gush]

I had a '88 Sig that was fairly close to your guitar's serial and that measured 9.96 T and 7.99 B.

Looking at your pickup picture it's almost without a doubt a later Standard T as that's how they look. For info the Standard T and B pickups originally had both magnetic non-adjust slugs plus a bar magnet as well (normally humbuckers just have a bar, single coils magnetic slugs, so it's an unusual design). The combination of slug and bar magnets made the original T&Bs quite bright so to warm them up a bit the high E and B slugs got changed mid '87 to non-magnetic poles. These are very distinctive and have circular milling marks on them.

This is a '89 Custom (one of my cast offs) that was fitted with Standard T and B pickups. The pictures are the best I can find and just about show the warmed slugs as fitted to your guitar.

Edit - I've come to realise I've owned and sold too many PRS over the years and probably should stop

OMG this thing is beautiful!!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

OMG this thing is beautiful!!

And he sold it?!?!

 

[gush]

And he sold it?!?!

Yeah........I shed a tear when I read that.

Not sure if that's a "he sold it tear" or "I didn't buy it tear".